(CNN) - On Tuesday, the Church of England voted against the consecration of female bishops, which means that for now at least, while women are able to become priests and deacons, they are unable to assume the leadership responsibilities that come with the miter.

But just because the Church of England voted down allowing female bishops does not mean female bishops don’t exist within the denomination in other parts of the world.

The Church of England is the historic origin of the worldwide Anglican Communion, and it’s structured somewhat like the United States. Within the Communion are provinces, kind of like states, and these provinces are by and large autonomous, with their own governing bodies and legislations.

Which means that while female bishops are prohibited in England, they are accepted in other provinces like New Zealand, Canada, Australia and the United States.

While those opposed to opposed to female bishops interpret church history and the Bible differently than those who approve of them do, the truth is that at least at this moment in the Church of England, fancy theological reasons are not the reason for this decision.

This vote has more to do with a quirky voting system than it has to do with doctrinal or cultural differences between the Church of England and the Episcopal Church in the United States.

Let me explain what I mean: As many Americans know from the recent election, it is technically the Electoral College and not individual voters who choose the president. Which means scenarios can arise where one candidate wins the popular vote while another triumphs in the Electoral College. Americans know how painful, costly and time-consuming it can be when the voting system doesn’t match popular sentiment: see the Bush vs. Gore election in 2000.

And that’s pretty much what happened on Tuesday. See, the Church of England is organized by a legislative body called General Synod, which is sort of like the church’s version of Congress. That body is divided into three houses: one composed of bishops, one composed of clergy and one composed of laity.

All three voted on female bishops, and a majority favored them in each: The House of Bishops voted 44-03, the House of Clergy voted 148-45, and the House of Laity voted 132-74.

So what went wrong? It turns out that legislation isn’t approved by a simple majority in General Synod but rather by a two-thirds majority in all three houses. So while more than 66% of each of the House of Bishops and the House of Clergy voted in favor of female bishops, only 56% of the House of Laity did the same.

And so the vote failed.

The irony is that well over 50% of all representatives voted in favor of female bishops (62% in total), and previous meetings of individual dioceses in the Church of England led to 42 of 44 of these groups approving female bishops (a diocese is sort of the equivalent of a congressional district). Moreover, previous research shows that more than 75% of members of the church approve female bishops.

So well over a majority of members of the Church of England want to see women hold the episcopate, just as they do in the United States.

But the voting system didn’t validate that.

Ultimately, I believe, the Church of England will ordain women as bishops. The timeline may drag, and quirks like this may happen again, but what Tuesday’s vote made clear is that the public desire for female bishops in England has changed from what it was even five or 10 ago.

Today, a majority of the news reports and editorials about the vote are not about divisiveness within the church or opposition to female bishops but rather about why the vote went wrong: From the prime minister to well-respected bishops, priests and laypeople, editorial after editorial proclaims dissatisfaction with the result of General Synod’s decision.

Perhaps the greatest lesson to be learned from Tuesday’s decision has nothing to do with the theological merits for or against female bishops but rather has much more to do with an organizational system that failed to represent the overwhelmingly popular opinion that it’s OK for someone with breasts to wear a miter.

On Wednesday, the Synod will meet to discuss ramifications of the vote. My hope is that the Church of England, as an organization, will find a way to affirm what those in the United States already affirm. But even more important, my hope is that they will affirm what many in England wish for their church’s future.

The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Danielle Elizabeth Tumminio.

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sylvia

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August 30, 2013 at 1:18 am |

Science

Free speech helps educate the masses................POLITICIANS too !

Where do morals come from?

By Kelly Murray, CNN

http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2013/04/12/where-do-morals-come-from/#comments
Gravity is not up for debate !

BY the way ...................Splat goes a fairy in the sky !...............bye bye tinker bell !

Apr. 25, 2013 — A strange stellar pair nearly 7,000 light-years from Earth has provided physicists with a unique cosmic laboratory for studying the nature of gravity. The extremely strong gravity of a massive neutron star in orbit with a companion white dwarf star puts competing theories of gravity to a test more stringent than any available before

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/04/130425142250.htm

Hey James Madison................religion has none it looks like.............with the comments on this blog.

The Big question is ETHICS ! does religion have any ?

The Ethics of Resurrecting Extinct Species

Apr. 8, 2013 — At some point, scientists may be able to bring back extinct animals, and perhaps early humans, raising questions of ethics and environmental disruption.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/04/130408165955.htm

April 30, 2013 at 4:16 pm | Report abuse |

May 1, 2013 at 12:42 pm | Report abuse |

Dinosaur Egg Study Supports Evolutionary Link Between Birds and Dinosaurs: How Troodon Likely Hatched Its Young

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/04/130418104324.htm

And NO ANGELS the pope KICKED them OFF the TEAM last year !

From Soup to Cells—the Origin of Life

http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evosite/evo101/IIE2aOriginoflife.shtml

the wrong path is Adam and Eve !

Human Y Chromosome Much Older Than Previously Thought

Mar. 4, 2013 — The discovery and analysis of an extremely rare African American Y chromosome pushes back the time of the most recent common ancestor for the Y chromosome lineage tree to 338,000 years ago. This time predates the age of the oldest known anatomically modern human fossils.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/03/130305145821.htm

No god(s) needed or required to graduate from public schools in the US

Remember : Adam had to POKE himself hard with his OWN BONE to create Eve.

Apr. 23, 2013 — Ancient DNA recovered from a series of skeletons in central Germany up to 7,500 years old has been used to reconstruct the first detailed genetic history of modern Europe.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/04/130423134037.htm

Ca-nabis and Cannabinoids (PDQ®) – National Cancer Insti-tute

http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/pdq/cam/cannabis/.../page4

Mar 21, 2013 – [1,2] These plant-derived compounds may be referred to as phytocannabinoids. ... have a protective effect against the development of certain types of tumors. ... In lung cancer cell lines, CBD upregulated ICAM-1, leading to ...

Good stuff !

The fact...............the earth is to old for this nonsemse ! Time to EVOLVE !

Ancient Earth Crust Stored in Deep Mantle

Apr. 24, 2013 — Scientists have long believed that lava erupted from certain oceanic volcanoes contains materials from the early Earth's crust. But decisive evidence for this phenomenon has proven elusive. New research from a team including Carnegie's Erik Hauri demonstrates that oceanic volcanic rocks contain samples of recycled crust dating back to the Archean era 2.5 billion years ago. Their work is published in Nature.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/04/130424132705.htm

For what...................... ? Make sure to read what the pope said !

Where do morals come from?

By Kelly Murray, CNN

http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/

Learning is fun with facts.......................... and facts work when teaching children.

Pope praises science, but insists God created world updated Thur October 28, 2010
Stephen Hawking is wrong, Pope Benedict XVI said Thursday – God did create the universe. The pope didn't actually mention the world-famous scientist, who argues in a book published last month that the laws of physics show there is no need for a supreme... \

Heaven is 'a fairy story,' scientist Stephen Hawking says updated Tue May 17, 2011
By Dan Gilgoff, CNN.com Religion Editor The concept of heaven or any kind of afterlife is a "fairy story," famed British scientist Stephen Hawking said in a newspaper interview this week. "I regard the brain as a computer which will stop working when...

NASA: Three planets found are some of best candidates so far for habitable worlds outside our solar system.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/04/18/us/planet-discovery/index.html

NASA: Mars could have supported life

Star Dust we are

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWdU_px9ApE&w=640&h=390]

Holy Hallucinations 35

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XTCRdC8Dlo&w=640&h=390]

The ORIGIN story is bullsh-it...............so is the bible............... nasty !

From Soup to Cells—the Origin of Life

http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evosite/evo101/IIE2aOriginoflife.shtml

Scientists have unearthed the first direct signs of cheesemaking, at a site in Poland that dates back 7,500 years.

Human Evolution

http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evosite/evo101/IIE2cHumanevo.shtml

BBC. Planet of the Apemen. Battle for Earth 1. Ho-mo Erectus

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUliLKSJ4bQ&w=640&h=390]

BACKFILL on E =mc2.....

Einstein letter, set for auction, shows scientist challenging idea of God, being 'chosen'

By Jessica Ravitz, CNN

Decades before atheist scientist and author Richard Dawkins called God a "delusion," one world-renowned physicist – Albert Einstein – was weighing in on faith matters with his own strong words.

“The word God is for me nothing more than the expression and product of human weaknesses, the Bible a collection of honorable, but still primitive legends,” Einstein wrote in German in a 1954 letter that will be auctioned on eBay later this month. "No interpretation no matter how subtle can (for me) change this.”

The fact...............the earth is to old ...........time to EVOLVE !.

Ancient Earth Crust Stored in Deep Mantle

Apr. 24, 2013 — Scientists have long believed that lava erupted from certain oceanic volcanoes contains materials from the early Earth's crust. But decisive evidence for this phenomenon has proven elusive. New research from a team including Carnegie's Erik Hauri demonstrates that oceanic volcanic rocks contain samples of recycled crust dating back to the Archean era 2.5 billion years ago. Their work is published in Nature.

The CNN Belief Blog covers the faith angles of the day's biggest stories, from breaking news to politics to entertainment, fostering a global conversation about the role of religion and belief in readers' lives. It's edited by CNN's Daniel Burke with contributions from Eric Marrapodi and CNN's worldwide news gathering team.